Physics in Motion Editing

One of the most frustrating things about motion editing is all the tedious tweaking of key frames. You try to get your vision into the project but keep hitting roadblocks, continually producing a product that does not look natural. It all comes down to the difficulty of mimicking how objects move through space on Earth, or in the universe, depending on the project. After Effects has a plugin for that.

Newton 2 is a 2D physics engine that allows you to set different bodies within the project to react accordingly to the laws of physics. Through the use of a variety of joints, such as distance and pivot joints, you can get your visuals to behave just as they would in the real world according to nature. It is the type of plugin that would come in handy for someone trying to depict the effects of gravity, magnets or other forces defined by physics.

Beyond the use of joints to link separate images within the project together, there are other body properties that can be big time savers. There are tools to make object rotation and gravity affect all the bodies within the project in the same way. In other words, you can tweak the gravity in the project so that all the objects are hit with the same amount of force, minimizing the opportunity for the objects to fall at unrealistic rates to each other.

Among other updates, the 2.1 version of Newton 2 has given the user more refined control of the settings. Find more information on After Effects plugins, graphic design and video editing on Reflection in Design’s website.